The chemotherapy process has been gruelling for 5-year-old Vaitiare. Photo / Go Fund Me
A Kiwi single mum living in Australia is battling for her daughter as she fights for her life - but the Australian government won't help in one crucial way.
Gladys Hesse has been forced to take extended time off work to care for her 5-year-old daughter Vaitiare after the family were told she had a rare form of cancer.
As a New Zealand living in Australia without a Special Category visa (SCV), Hesse is not eligible for any government support and friends have launched an online appeal to help raise funds to support the family.
"I am unable to maintain my employment over the coming months and also be at the hospital to support Vaitiare through treatment," Hesse told 7 News.
"As such, all money raised will be put towards medical costs and potential living costs to keep our family together."
Friends who launched the online appeal said the family were reluctant to appeal for help but that the money will help them focus on Vaitiare's recovery.
Gladys Hesse told Australia's 7 News that the drama started with a simple visit to the doctor.
"Initially, this was as innocuous as a mosquito bite, a tiny harmless bump on her arm," the mother-of-three said.
Vaitiare said her arm was sore and the pain began to subside, but Hesse took her a doctor anyway, who advised that the lump would settle and prescribed Panadol for any pain.
But the lump didn't settle, growing over the next two weeks and sending the family back to the GP, who ordered an ultrasound.
Those tests eventually proved a devastating diagnosis: Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of cancer found in bones and soft tissue.
"From the start of this whole experience, I have not just been shocked but I have felt the full gamut of emotions from sadness, anger, confusion, fear to the hardest one of helplessness," Hesse told 7 News.
"As a parent you start asking the questions, 'Why my baby?', 'How did this happen?', 'Is it something I did?'.
"How do you tell a 5-year-old girl who only has a lump on her elbow that she has cancer? That she will be going in and out of hospital for the rest of the year? What will happen to her body?"
Vaitiare is now three weeks into a three-month cycle of chemotherapy.
After that cycle is complete, a surgeon will decide if the tumour can be removed, with one scenario seeing the little girl's arm amputated.
Hesse said it had been overwhelming to care for all three of her children while prioritising Vaitiare's recovery.
"At the forefront is making sure that I look after my girl but also take care of my boys.
"It's a balancing act that I have not yet mastered but I am getting there."
The New Zealand diaspora in Australia numbers about 650,000. Access to Australian social security for that group varies considerably:
• About 200,000 arrived in Australia before February 2001 and are classed as "special category visa holders", and get full social security entitlements available to permanent residents.
• About 200,000-220,000 arrived after February 2001 but have lived there for 10 years or more. They can get a once-only payment of the unemployment or sickness benefit for up to six months.
• Another 200,000-220,000 Kiwis (who came after 2001 and have lived in Australia for fewer than 10 years) have no access to social security.